Where are you going?

{will you find your way? adventures call.}

{who will you be with? enjoy their company}

{welcome the ecstatic experience...in the little moments of life}

{all images via fffound. i heart fffound}

time for vacation

All wet

{a week off from softball to volunteer at Camp Sunshine in Casco Maine with friends.
Elle is the third one in from left}

I must be mad. Really mad in the head. I leave work to run home. Dash in the house and grab the girls, jump in the car and head out for Ellie's practice in the pouring rain. Once again, it is pouring in Central Mass. The summer is a wash altogether, unless August has power packed weekends full of sunshine, this summer was officially bad as far as the weather goes. How many rainy, freezing practices and games do you think a parent/child can take? Tonight we made the best of it. Soleil (2 almost) and I went puddle stomping, eating blueberry bagels with cream cheese. I could have used a stiff martini in the rain looking like a drowned rat, wishing for it to come to a glorious end. Two hours of this.

Ellie and her team are preparing for the Eastern National Softball Tournament in Salisbury, MD. They have been working so hard, practicing and driving from over an hour away to get to practice in some cases. (Thank you Amy for coming tonight and revving the girls up.) Kids and parents giving up their summer (ha) for softball. I am so proud of my daughter for her dedication. At times it's a lot for a 16 year old to muster it up to go to practice instead of visiting with say two friends who just spent 3 weeks in Europe while she sucked up dust off a field in the middle of some town she slept all the way to at 5 in the morning. How many girls can do this? She is on 3 teams. High school, local league and ASA.

This was a tough ASA year, transitional and hard to refocus on a new team, wanting to spend time with friends and getting her license. All understandable. She is facing struggles of balance here and working hard towards a goal...one that she can't really see as yet. The 16 year old blinders are long and narrowed. Yes, college is right around the corner. This teenage parenting is hard as hell. Give me the two year old biting me or ripping my hair out. Really. Elle works so hard, I just want to sleep for her. I am looking forward to a few days on the Cape to regroup before heading south on Monday. So proud, this mama is so proud.

Did I say it was raining? It's funny I think, to imagine the lives of some people outside of work. You never know what someone does when they leave the office. Tonight a colleague went full tilt on how I spend my time. She came out to help the girls focus on warm ups as a technique to gain mental strength and determination before a game. Maybe I should do this before heading to work? I wonder if neighbor Dave would mind me screaming out counts of 20 in my driveway?? I hope it helps, she was pruney when she left to head back to Brighton from Whitinsville. See the dedication is in the blood.

MMM, Sauza Hornitos and Ginger...make my damp bottom jeans bearable. Too lazy to change just yet. Off to bed, thinking of warm sunshine on my face, dreams of bliss, and walking with the one you love.....without an umbrella.

Between Going and Staying

{image PR 09 by moi}

Between Going and Staying

Between going and staying the day wavers,
in love with its own transparency.
The circular afternoon is now a bay
where the world in stillness rocks.

All is visible and all elusive,
all is near and can't be touched.

Paper, book, pencil, glass,
rest in the shade of their names.

Time throbbing in my temples repeats
the same unchanging syllable of blood.

The light turns the indifferent wall
into a ghostly theater of reflections.

I find myself in the middle of an eye,
watching myself in its blank stare.

The moment scatters. Motionless,
I stay and go: I am a pause.

~Octavio Paz

Jesse Burkett D4 Champs 2009

Ok, I do realize softball has nothing to do with design, entertaining, gardening or my other posts... but when your kid wins a big game with girls she grew up playing with, you just have to post.

Some of the girls have known each other since they were in preschool. They pulled off another D4 title last week against a hungry Jack Barry team that fought hard for the victory at Rockwood Field on the Worcester State Campus. We are all so proud of you girls! No strangers to this honor, Burkett has been bestowed many times, but each time you realize how important and meaningful this time is in their lives. The parents, coaches and volunteers make JBLL the most amazing place and environment for young girls to learn the game and grow. I think people move here, just so their kids can play in this district.

I just want to thank everyone down at JBLL for giving our kids one heck of a season, every single year. We are heading to Regionals, hosted by JBLL. This too has become a great time. The girls don't want to leave the field...watching every game.

The Rock is a place that our kids will keep in their hearts and minds their whole life. Visiting teams feel the mojo and the ruckus and comment on the park, kept in shape by some seriously dedicated parents. There is just gooooood stuff alive and kickin' along that stretch of Pleasant St. From the A field to Ralph Raymond/Rockwood Field...the stuff that American summers are supposed to be made of, kids laughing, families and neighbors together. It's like Cheers for Tatnuck Square without Sam Malone and cold drafts, everyone knows your name.

White Out

{image via living etc, eco friendly bali}

{image via ffffound}

{image via ffffound and doesitfloat}

In the Garden

{images of my garden}

Well, the crazy rain has subsided, but the weather is still chilly for july, which nips the growing season in New England. My gardens are like jungles from all the rain. The elephant ear hostas ear almost as big as my house. I found one ripe-ish tomato today, which is truly a miracle. Luckily I am so wrapped up in my children's sports that I am not worrying too much about the gardens.

The little growth of PI along my driveway has me spooked though. I get it by just looking at it. I wish the skunk that sprays the neighborhood everynight would catch some. Perhaps after one spray the neighbors would learn to let their dogs out before dark. At least the barking has subsided and the crickets and frogs can be heard.

4th of july...

images taken in Worcester, Massachusetts

My aplologies for sporadic posts. Summer has brought incredible amounts of family responsibility. Softball, baseball, ten games a week...plus all the other mama stuff is leaving me little time. xo, Michelle

Lovin' Worcester...

{click image to take you there}

July 11, 2009
Noon - 11:00 P.M.

The hurricane horns
with special guest
craig rawding
of the delta generators
voted 2008 best boston blues band

{ 2009 International Blues Competition finals at the Orpheum in Memphis,
where Delta Generators were top ten finalists }

John & Son's Fairgrounds
226 Chandler Street * Worcester, MA. 01609

Brainchild of paul collyer
100% of profits for National autism association

click top image for festival all info

{i love people like paul who make it happen!}

Shoe Lust

{image via urban outfitters by who we see}

Richter would love this weather

{image of clouds painted by Gerhard Richter 1970}

While viewing his work at SFMOMA I actually became motion sick. It is so intensely full of movement and motion. The works were enormous and took you right in. I was reprimanded more than once for getting too close. Good thing my allergies were at bay.

Like Zelle Cell {above} of the The Museum of Modern Art, New York collection, each piece intensified me so much, I had to leave.

Be a Good Citizen

happy 4th

{1954 image by this isn't happiness via tumblr}

{image via tumblr and ffffound}

My mustache brings all the girls to the yard...have a fun long weekend. Eat, drink, flirt, live, laugh, be a kid, and throw love and sparkles around--hopefully some place sunny and warm.